Selling diamonds: Baseball group finds buyer for fields

JANESVILLE  Janesville Youth Baseball has sold its former ball fields—about nine acres just west of Milton Avenue—for $275,000 to a Sauk City developer.

The buyer, Dan Meise, turned around and relisted the property for sale, said his real estate agent agent, Barry Badertscher.

Duffy Dillon of the baseball organization said his group netted almost $263,000 after commissions and taxes. From that, the group paid off $113,162 in construction loans for work at the Youth Sports Complex on Wuthering Hills Drive. That leaves just under $150,000 at the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin, which is administrating the capital campaign drive for the new complex.

Badertscher said Meise bought the property because it is nine acres in the middle of Janesville, "and there's no vacant land in the middle of Janesville, especially off Milton Avenue."

The property is zoned as a conservancy, and the buyer will approach city officials about rezoning options.

Badertscher said the area eventually could be developed as single- or multi-family housing; senior housing; or small, low-traffic businesses.

"The city is going to dictate what can be done there," Badertscher said.

He said Meise would like to develop the area.

"In the meantime, if somebody else wants to do something else, we'll look at that," Badertscher said. "Dan's an investor.

"That land, some day, is going to have some value because of its location. In the long run, we'll do something that will be a positive impact."

The area might be rented on a short-term basis to other sports clubs who have contacted Meise, Badertscher said.

The baseball organization listed the property for $499,000 when the group finished moving to its new complex in 2011.

Dillon said the club had taken a risk with the construction loan, so members opted to sell the property at the lower price.

"We felt reasonably certain we would ultimately sell the property for more than (the final sales price), but we are a nonprofit and have to keep the health of the organization (at the forefront)," he said.

"The sale of the property gives us a shot in the arm from a cash perspective," Dillon said.

It also allows the group to finish site work at the Wuthering Hills Drive facility in time for its open house July 4.

Fundraising will continue, with the next goal to install lights, Dillon said.